JR East rolling stock announcements

[Densha]

Weren't they planning to do so already for quite a while? At least I remember reading something about JRE-Odakyu through-running.

Apart from the few lines that were previously JNR/JR but are now operated by private companies, are there actually any private companies and JR trains doing through running at all?

[Kabutoni]

Weren't they planning to do so already for quite a while? At least I remember reading something about JRE-Odakyu through-running.

Apart from the few lines that were previously JNR/JR but are now operated by private companies, are there actually any private companies and JR trains doing through running at all?

 

Oh sure, there are tons, but the JR East Jōban line trains just lacked the Odakyū ATS equipment.

 

Odakyū runs their Romance cars (MSE 60000) on the JR Central Gotemba line and Tōkyō Metro Chiyoda line for example. Not sure if they still run on the Yūrakuchō line, since there was something with the installment of platform doors.

[TestudoToTetsudo]

Hello Mr  TetsudoToTetsudo,

 

So sorry, but the E653 is not a romance car.  The lower half of the front window is opaque.

 

As to when the 653 service will be operating in Inaho, I found this information:  http://www.jrniigata.co.jp/press/20130705daiyakaisei0928.pdf

 

It looks like the service is starting on September 28^th.  A single round trip will operate.  Scheduled as Inaho No:7 and Inaho No: 8.  Travel times are reduced by 2 minutes to Akita and 3 minutes to Niigata.  The 7-car train is non-smoking only.  Car 1 (Akita end) is the Green Car.

 

Japan Wiki notes that all Inaho services are scheduled to be replaced by summer 2014.

Thanks for the clarification, for some reason I thought I remembered seeing front view seats when I saw an E653 at Ueno in 2009, but going back through my photos I see that's not the case.

 

Thanks also for the link!  The photos look interesting!

[Kabutoni]

I somewhere promised to snap a picture of a 211 if I would ever to come across one, right? Have this humble catch, celebrating the 130th anniversary of the Takasaki line. Got lucky in Ōmiya with bad light and a lot of running on the platform...

 

[bronzeonion]

 

On the note of 211s, here's recent footage of two Nagano striped sets on test on the Chuo Mainline

[Ochanomizu]

Okaya Station, Nagano prefecture.  It is quite a nice place to visit.

[Sacto1985]

Maybe they're replacing the 115's with refurbished 211's that used to run on other lines?  :)

 

Just west of Okaya Station is where the Chūō Main Line splits in two--an older branch line that includes the north end of the Iida Line at Tatsuno, and the new line that has a long tunnel for a shorter route to Shiojiri. If you want to sit in a train for circa 5.5 hours, there's even a train from Okaya all the way to Toyohashi (I've posted a link to the YouTube video of that trip in the past).

[Kabutoni]

Another one bites the dust: http://railf.jp/news/2013/08/21/110000.html

 

I'm glad I got this catch last weekend in Osaki. It's a very very rapidly disappearing sight...

[Densha]

I wonder what the real advantages over the 205 series are with the E233 series... yeah they may be a bit more efficient with power but '80s stock should have good comfort no? At least I find the '80s seats in Dutch trains to be better than those nowadays and looking at pictures it appears to be the same in Japan.

[Kabutoni]

First and foremost, the E233 are anonymous. My wife dragged my on a Saikyō line Rapid service, instead of our regular Utsunomiya/Takasaki line service, a few weeks ago and I didn't even realise it. It was until the train switched on the Saikyō line I realised I was in a new E233 and not an E231. Upside to the E231 is that the motor sound is more awesome when accelerating (slow downwards inverter sound and then quick tone rise).

 

Comfort is not much of an issue in Japanese commuter trains. Well, older trains have lower seats and rougher suspension. Modern trains have usually higher seats and more comfortable suspension at higher speeds.

[miyakoji]

I'm surprised they have enough E233-7000s already to start scrapping the 205s.  I guess they have a lot of practice building E233s, it doesn't take too long

[bill937ca]

I wonder what the real advantages over the 205 series are with the E233 series... 

 

 

The newer trains usually need far less body maintenance than the older trains with steel bodies. Weight is probably less too.The E233 accelerates almost twice as fast as the Series 205. Series E233 is also better equipped for handicapped access.  Each car in a ten car E233 train set weights between 28.7 tons and 32.4 tons. I can't find weights for the Series 205.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/205_series

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E233_series

Edited August 21, 2013 by bill937ca

[200系]

More JR East Shinkansen news:

 

This week, the first live expired E2系0番台 J formation (formation J2) appeared on the Niigata scrap line.

 

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/akihito3521/25460949.html

 

 

Formation J2 was the first production E2系 formation, and was delivered to JR East on the 20th of December 1996, and with exception of the 1995 built prototype formations S6 and S7 (N21 and N1 respectively these days), she's the oldest E2系 formation as of today.

In December 2002, like her sisters, she was extended to a 10 car formation by addition of a E225形 and E226形, making those cars 'only' about 10/11 years old.

She was part of the group being used on the Tōhoku Shinkansen, though she was apparently used on the Nagano Shinkansen for a few days in late August.

 

In related news,

 

- E3系0番台 formations R1~R11 (R1~R26 being the entire group) have been scrapped as of this month

- Combined running of E2系 and E3系 R formations (used on Komachi services) has ended since the September 28th timetable revision

- The Akita Shinkansen will switch to a E6系 only roster, with the spring 2014 timetable revision.

Edited October 5, 2013 by 200系

[Sacto1985]

I'm not surprised at the beginning of the retirement of the earliest E2 trainsets. Unlike regular trainsets that run 1067 mm JR tracks, Shinkansen trains frequently run over 200 km/h for long periods of time, and as such are subject to a lot more physical stress than regular passenger trains. As such, they are not candidates for long-life extension programs (the 200 Series Shinkansen rebuilds are a one-of-a-kind exception). I believe the E3 "R" Shinkansen trainsets were originally built mostly in the late 1990's for the Akita Shinkansen service and trainsets R1 to R17 will likely be completely scrapped over the next few months. It will be interesting to see if parts salvaged from E3 R1 to R17 can be used as spares for E3 L61 to L72 trainsets, which will likely stay in Yamagata Shinkansen service until at least 2020.

[KenS]

The newer trains usually need far less body maintenance than the older trains with steel bodies. Weight is probably less too.The E233 accelerates almost twice as fast as the Series 205. Series E233 is also better equipped for handicapped access.  Each car in a ten car E233 train set weights between 28.7 tons and 32.4 tons. I can't find weights for the Series 205.

 

The 205 was 29.9 gross tons per car by some source I dug up once (I think it might have been an article in one of the industry journals the puts English PDFs of their articles online).

 

The gain of the E233 over the 205 was, as Bill says, in maintenance, but also in purchase and operating cost.  The E233 is pretty much the current state of JRE's fifteen-year project to cut costs in half: "half the cost, half the life", was the slogan I believe.  This referred to cutting the lifespan to 15 years, in return for reducing both the up-front purchase cost and operating costs to half what the old 103 series had been.

 

The 205 was actually part of that, as the program had begun under JNR.  The 205 cut car weight from the 35.9 gross tons of the 103, and introduced stainless steel, which didn't require frequent repainting. The 209 took weight to 24.1 gross tons per car, partly through extensive interior use of plastic trim. Between the two of them, they apparently reduced maintenance costs 50% over the 103.

 

Weight reduction in the E231 wasn't a huge amount more (I saw one statement that implied 23.9 gross tons per car), but that's partly because they put some of the weight back in a stronger, more crash-resistant front (introduced in the E217), to deal with suburban grade-crossing accidents. The E231 also eliminated a lot of wire, by switching to a computer network control bus design, rather than separate electrical wires (yes, it's a "drive by wire" train). The computer also tracks details to help with maintenance.  I couldn't find information on what details, but I suspect that means tracking operational hours and monitoring things like operating temperature and other metrics that would point to a problem, so modules don't need to be replaced or overhauled proactively.

 

One of the big innovations on the E233 was redundant systems. Some breakdowns that would strand an older train out on the line, can now be ignored until the train can return to a depot.

 

There have also been ongoing improvements in the power system, both reducing the amount of power needed, and allowing for finer control of acceleration and braking, and less maintenance.  The 205 used DC motors, but with improved control systems over earlier models. The 209 introduced AC motors with VVVF inverters with GTO and later IGBT control systems. AC motors with VVVF/IGBT remained the standard (with minor changes) up through the E231 and E233.

 

The 205 was also introduced in 1985, so at 28 years it's well beyond the 15 envisioned for a service life.  I imagine the ones still running were built later, but they're definitely past their sell-by date now, so they probably have to be retired due to the need to avoid major overhauls to things like the body or frame. That the new ones will probably cost much less to operate is just icing on the cake.

[keitaro]

apparently 205 are not that heavy

 

but yeah you can clearly see the moha`s are heavy.

 

its strange though as now there is 3 205 running on the hanwa line and less 103`s now, i don`t like the 205 too much to be honest

 

prefer the 103

 

号車 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 形式 クハ205
(Tc) モハ205
(M) モハ204
(M') サハ205
(T) モハ205
(M) モハ204
(M') サハ205
(T) モハ205
(M) モハ204
(M') クハ204
(Tc') 搭載機器   Cont MG,CP   Cont MG,CP   Cont MG,CP   車両重量
（落成時） 25.4t 32.6t 34.4t 23.6t 32.6t 34.4t 23.6t 32.6t 34.4t 25.4t

[yakumo381]

More JR East Shinkansen news:

 

This week, the first live expired E2系0番台 J formation (formation J2) appeared on the Niigata scrap line.

Similarly Series E3 are biting the dust with R3 being chopped in

 

- Any idea what is being pushed into the shed at the end?

[miyakoji]

I think it's an E6 series car.  Right around 13:29 in the video, you can see its number.

[JR 500系]

It always hurts me to see shinkansen destruction videos... Sad... I mean it still LOOKS new... 

[Densha]

Did you guys see this before? I just came across it while browsing the wikipedia page of an industrial designer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Okuyama

http://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2013/20130603.pdf

Apparently JR East is planning a luxury train too. It looks like it will be a 10-car hybrid EDMU/DEMU: it will be have pantographs and a diesel generator. That's what I can make up from the translation.

[bikkuri bahn]

Did you guys see this before? I just came across it while browsing the wikipedia page of an industrial designer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Okuyama

http://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2013/20130603.pdf

Apparently JR East is planning a luxury train too. It looks like it will be a 10-car hybrid EDMU/DEMU: it will be have pantographs and a diesel generator. That's what I can make up from the translation.

Yup.  Probably the most interesting of the new trains coming out, being an electro-diesel.

[Kabutoni]

Yeah, I read about it some months ago. I would first like to see this become something more concrete and coming out of the think-tank-concept stage. I won't doubt JR East will pull this off without the 'help' of Mitooka Eiji (who produced fun trains, next to the ghastly Cruise Train Seven Stars Kyūshū). The EDMU concept is pretty interesting though.

[bikkuri bahn]

I thought Mitooka was mainly involved with JR Kyushu- and is responsible for some their characteristic overdesign, especially for the special trains.　The JR-E project is in the hands of Ken Okuyama, who is an international-based designer who had a hand in the design of the E6 color scheme as well as the E7.

[Densha]

Yeah apparently he worked for Ferrari in the past. Now we know why the E6 looks like a Ferrari...

[Densha]

Apparently Japan is already exporting EDMU concepts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_800